During fall of 2011 Prof. Tedesco was 'playing' with some ideas about communicating results from his research concerning the melting of the Greenland ice sheet through 'unconventional' venues, such as Visual Arts and Music. The opportunity to build a team and perform a project came to reality when the City College of New York called for the City SEED call proposal (therefore the name POLARSEEDS). This call was looking to fund innovative interdisciplinary work that could create connections among different disciplines within CCNY, with the overall goal of providing support for initial collaborations that could be used to show preliminary work for applying to other funding venues. Prof. Tedesco contacted Profs. Saltz, Ham and Perl to share his ideas and they agreed to meet. The proposal was selected (through an internal competitive process similar to the one used at the National Science Foundation) with starting date in January 2012.

This website and the exhibit running at City College at the end of January 2013 are the outcome of this initial collaboration.

The polar seeds group

Kickoff meeting of the four faculty funded by CCNY to perform the Polar SEED project (February 2012).

prof. marco tedesco

Prof. Tedesco received his Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University ‘Federico II’ in Napoli, Italy in 1999 and his PhD in Physics/Environmental Modeling in 2003 from the Institute of Applied Physics ‘Carrara’ in Firenze, Italy. In 2000 he was a visiting student at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and in 2002 he was a visiting scientist at the Helsinki University of Technology. In 2003 Prof. Tedesco moved to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a Research Associate. In 2008, Prof. Tedesco joined the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the City College of New York. He is currently a Doctoral Faculty member at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and also of the University ‘Parthenope’ in Napoli, Italy. Starting in February 2013, Prof. Tedesco will serve as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation for a two year term. Prof. Tedesco’s research focuses on remote sensing of snow and ice, climate modeling and high latitude fieldwork. Among other related activities, he has led four expeditions to Greenland and has participated in one expedition to Antarctica, as well as leading several snow field campaigns in the continental US. His research has been highlighted by media and journals, especially his studies concerning melting in Greenland.

prof. ethan ham

Ethan Ham is an Associate Professor of New Media in City College’s Electronic Design & Multimedia program. Prior to entering academia, he worked in the computer game & media industry for eleven years. His industry experience includes stints as a game designer, game programmer, and game producer at companies ranging from small startups to a Fortune 500 corporation. Ethan’s artworks are often playful and demonstrate his continuing interest in the interaction between an artwork and its beholder. His work often explores themes of translation and mutation and take the form of literary/art hybrids, sculpture, and internet-based art. His art has been commissioned by Turbulence.org and Rhizome.org and has been exhibited at the Sculpture Center (Long Island City, New York), PS122 Gallery (New York, NY), The National Portrait Gallery (Canberra, Australia), The Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina (Novi Sad, Serbia), and on the websites of The Museum of Graphic Arts (Machida City, Japan) and The Museum of Contemporary Art (Badajoz, Spain).

Prof. Jonathan Perl

Prof. Perl first graduated from the school of “the street”, playing piano/keyboards and collaborating with New York City songwriters. While studying music theory at Hunter college and performance at CCNY, he accompanied modern dancers at schools including Alvin Ailey, Jose Limon, and Martha Graham. His music production has been eclectic: the “ambient groove new world” music of Wired Planet (featuring artists and languages from around the world); straight- ahead rock (Sway/ThiSway); jazz-soul (James Hurt); Afro-dance/house (Wunmi), Roots/Americana (The Trapps), etc.Prof. Perl has provided technical consultation and training to artists and composers including Pat Metheney, John Cale, Earl Rose (Film/TV composer), Leon Pendarvis (Saturday Night Live), and Stuart Mathewman(Sade), etc. He has created popular training titles for Logic, as well as titles for Mainstage, Omnisphere andTrilian (published by Magnet Media and Mac Pro Video). In 2005, Prof. Perl founded the New York Logic Pro Users Group, which serves as a hub for producers, engineers, composers, songwriters, and others to learn from each other and from special guests. He is an Apple-Certified Master trainer and, with Apple, has brought his workshops to high school and university educators utilizing Logic.Prof. Perl joined the Sonic Arts Center @ CCNY in it’s first year and is one of two full-time faculty members; he is also a periodic guest lecturer at the NYU Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music.

prof. ina saltz

Prof. Ina Saltz is a designer, author, photographer and Professor of Electronic Design and Multimedia at The City College of New York, currently serving as Chair of the Art Department. Her areas of expertise are typography and editorial design. Prior to teaching at CCNY, Ina was an editorial Design Director at various publications, most notably at Time Magazine (International Editions). Ina serves on the design faculty of the Stanford Professional Publishing Course, and taught typography at Stanford via webcast. She has written over 50 articles on type and design-related topics for HOW, STEP Inside Design, Inked, and others design journals. Ina is a board member of the Type Directors Club and the Society for Publication Designers. Ina’s book, “Typography Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Working with Type,” has been published in five languages and has also been issued in paperback (Rockport Press, 2009). Ina photographed and documented over 700 typographic tattoos in her two books, “Body Type: Intimate Messages Etched in Flesh” and "Body Type: More Typographic Tattoos," published by Harry N. Abrams Books in 2006 and 2010. She has had two solo shows of her photography in New York City, and her photographs are in a group show touring six museums and galleries in the UK during 2013. Ina is also co-author of "Typography Referenced," (Rockport Press, 2012) and contributed fifteen essays in "The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design," (Phaidon, 2012). Volume three of "Body Type" will be published in 2014.

students

Patrick Alexander is a PhD candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center and a research assistant with Professor Tedesco at CCNY. He is working to merge climate model outputs and satellite data to study melting and reflectivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and traveled to Greenland in June 2011.Tri Datta is a graduate student in the Graduate Center’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Program at the CUNY Graduate Center focusing on polar science, specifically Antarctica. She comes to the earth sciences from a background in computer science as well as human geography.

Vladimir Golosiy is a digital artist, graphic designer and web developer. He enjoys designing infographics with a focus on typography. Vladimir currently works for the Peacekeeping division of the United Nations as the Lead Designer.Jo Keita is an artist whose career has branched out from ska-punk band to experimental film score to film re-recording mix. While a passion for playing pop music has helped hone his style, a deep understanding and curiosity about physics also add originality to his musical vision and sonic ideas, which have been heard in many international film festivals and theaters.Andrey Radovski is an audio engineer and sound designer specializing in innovative multimedia projects and experimental music. Originally from Minsk, Belarus, he has relocated to New York in 2003 to study at the Sonic Arts Center (CCNY) and pursue career in sound for film and theater.Felipe Quiroz is a freelance sound designer, musician and producer working primarily on T.V and radio commercials. He is also an active performer with his solo electronic project as the Prince of Queens and as a keyboard player for his band, M.A.K.U sound system

Grzegorz Lewkowicz is a graphic designer and web developer with a background in electronic engineering. He is interested in game design, interactive design and 3D animation. He is currently a freelancer looking for a challenging and interesting full time employment.